Lessons From China

Education Opinion Turning China Terrorist Attack Into Lesson on Love

When the knife attacks happened in Kunming last weekend, I was traveling through the city for work. As my colleagues and I scoured the Internet for news, rumors and updates from friends, I thought about how I wouldn't have thought twice about bringing up the subject with my students in the United States, but in China, I would pause hard before discussing it in-depth with anyone, much less my students. The last thing I'd want is for the wrong thing to be said, the wrong conclusion to be made and trouble to be had. That is why I asked Jiang Houming, a 2012-14 Teach For China Fellow, to reflect on how he addressed the incredibly heart-breaking events with his students in a way that made this the learning experience it needed it to be for our students, regardless of where we are in the world.

Education Opinion What My Almost-Dropout Brother Taught Me About Education

My brother taught me my first major lesson about education in the fall of 2005 when he became the unofficial mascot to my students on the Navajo Nation. Until that point, I had spent the better part of my life horrified by my younger brother's antics and irritated by the attention, money and heartache my parents poured on him. But when I became an educator, I finally realized that it wasn't the tutoring, behavior plans or even love that got him to succeed. It was his own vision for what he wanted, his grit to get there, and the confidence that developed when he realized that he could do it - even when everyone thought he would fail. All of the buzzwords I'd been hearing about education really crystallized for me that fall in 2005 when I thought about my brother - teaching meant improving academic skills and empowerment through knowledge. It was also about fostering students' passion, vision, grit and confidence. My brother and my students had to work far harder for those things than I ever had to in school.

Education Opinion Ed Leaders: Shut Laptop, Play with Kids

I remember my first year stepping outside of the classroom to work with adults. It was such a disappointment. Although I was having a greater impact and feeling professionally fulfilled, it was nothing compared to the fun and personal fulfillment I got out of working with kids. Half the time I was behind a computer and the other half of the time, I was in front of teachers. I doubted myself and how I was spending my time, and made plans to return to the classroom as soon as possible.

Education Opinion Shakespeare, as Performed by Fifth-Graders in Rural China

Culturally responsive teaching is hard. So is cultivating students who are global citizens. Craig Isser may not be a Chinese teacher from rural Yunnan and his students may just be starting to speak English, but this is not stopping him from sharing his passion for Shakespeare. The results so far with his 5th graders? The universal appreciation of culture, theater and scandalous love triangles.

Education Opinion 7 Things My Mentee Must Know About Life After College...

My mentee graduated from college a week ago. When we first met almost six years ago, she was barely 17, had moved from China 2 years earlier speaking no English, and lived in low-income Washington, D.C. housing with parents who didn't want her to go to college. I thought being a mentor meant going out to lunch and teaching her about safe sex. Little did I know she was going to teach me what vision and grit looks like. It wasn't until Wei that I really understood why I work in education. She taught me what all of our kids deserve, regardless of what neighborhood they grew up in. But to be honest, I'm panicking right now. Even though Wei's done so much and has a great job lined up, I can't help but be worried at the thought of her entering the professional world on her own. Even though I'm far away in China right now, here are a couple things I want her to remember.

Education Opinion Show Tony how the World "Jumps Higher, Works Harder" Together

Meet 续德寿 (Tony). Right now, he is an 8th grade student at Big Dynasty Mountain Middle School in one of the poorest areas in Yunnan, China. I greatly admire Tony - in contrast with his frail and weak body, he has a steadfast spirit. Despite his mother's suicide, his father's severe alcoholism, his poor household, his lacking Mandarin, and the black coal stove next to the bed he shares with his grandma, Tony works hard every single day for a better future - his better future. But I worry about the exhausting road ahead of him, which not includes extremely difficult entrance exams into high school and, later on, college, but also the finances and resources to continue onward. Right now, I can only teach Tony of a compassionate world. I sincerely hope you can show him that it is real. Tony is one out of 50 classmates that make up Class 61 (61班), only few of whom are in a better situation than Tony. For the start of the New Year, please consider sending a postcard, email, school supplies, clothes, a cool toy, or whatever you think that might symbolize our theme of "Run Faster, Jump Higher, Work Harder, Be Smarter" to Tony and/or his classmates.

Education Opinion The Real Story in Chinese Education: Risk-Taking Teachers

This week, I was invited to take part in Teaching Ahead's Roundtable discussion to share what the U.S. can learn from other countries. The thing is, the story of what America can learn from China after Shanghai skyrocketed to No. 1 on the PISA exam has been told over and over by people way smarter than me. Additionally, there is so much I don't actually want other countries to learn from China - our intense testing system, the hyper-focus on rote memorization, corporal punishment, 60-student class sizes, the quotas for high school and college entry... These things are already starting to change in China, but what I decided to share about China is what I see as universally happening in pockets, but needs to happen way more, in every country: Incentivizing teacher innovation and encouraging teachers to take smart risks for their students greater, holistic learning.

Education Opinion Lessons from my Parents: Living and Teaching

Over the past two years or so, I've noticing aging. Not my own exactly, but the aging of my parents and those of my friends as the ones we love face diabetes, dementia, and in two or three cases, death. That it why it was so magical when my parents visited me at work this past summer for when I was running Teach For China's 300-plus person Summer Institute. I'm slightly ashamed to admit this, but it took them traveling more than 36 hours by plane, taxi, bus and rickshaw to rural China for two weeks for me to realize that they are pure, unfiltered rock stars. And despite the craziness of training so many new teachers and more than 80 staff, I still managed to glean a couple good reminders about teaching and living from my parents while they were here

Education Opinion Happy Singles Day: Backwards Plan Your Next Boyfriend

In light of Singles Day in China (11/11), I've unearthed a wildly insightful piece I wrote more than 6 years ago on Life... in Backwards Design. Yes, for all of you wonderful single individuals out there, it may be time to start drafting your vision for your perfect mate, identifying your measurable goals and priorities, and forming a long-term plan aligned to your ultimate aims.

Education Opinion Closing the Global Education Inequity Gap

When someone like Tom Friedman of the The New York Times calls you and your colleagues "the anti-Al Qaeda", that feels pretty darn fancy. Tom Friedman joined almost 300 Teach For All education reform leaders around the world from 32 countries last week in Tengchong, Yunnan Province where Teach For China hosted the annual global conference. We had students from our Teach For China classrooms attend and speak this conference, as well as participate in these sessions. We got to discuss what a truly contextualized vision of transformational impact may look like in our communities. We analyzed examples of leadership from alumni in the Teach For All network from India, America, the UK... My mind is still reeling from the experiences and will eventually come out with an articulate reflection, but in the meantime, here's an excerpt of Tom Friedman's column this week.

Education Opinion Middle School Drop-Out with Big Dreams

Tonight, my hairdresser and I talked America. About what it's like to grocery shop without understanding the language, how hard it is to be an immigrant, and how long it would take for him to learn to speak English. Xiao shared his big dreams about moving to the United States and he asked what the hair salons are like there. He said he was planning to go to Sichuan later next year first to work a bit, get things in order, and then head to America. It was a great conversation with an obviously thoughtful, enthusiastic and ambitious young man. And then Xiao told me he was 17. And that he had dropped out in 6th grade at 12 years old.

Education Opinion Why "Naughtiest" Kids are My Favorite

It is seven weeks into the school year in China and the honeymoon period is most definitely over. So unsurprisingly, last week when I lived with our first-year Fellows and observed their classes in a factory town in China, I've been thinking a lot about the "naughty" kids. I am talking about the ones who REALLY misbehave. The ones who beat others, throw desks, cuss out teachers, climb through windows and refuse to do their school work. Also known as my favorites.
But let's not lie. It's easy for me to say I love the naughty kids when I don't have a classroom full of children bullying each other and making me cry. It's easy for me to tell our first-year Teach For China teachers to spend more time with the fifth-grader who wreaks havoc at their school when I don't have 60 other students in the classroom to teach. It's easy for me to tell our teachers to have patience, teach coping skills and to love their children more.
But the reason I say all that isn't because it's easy. It's because I owe it to Shiloh. I was scared of him before we ever met because at 11, he had already served time in juvenile penitentiary for lighting his cousin on fire. His parents were both unemployed and drug addicts. He cussed me out, hit me and most definitely did not do his work.

Education Opinion Life is Not Fair

I commented to my friend last week that being an adult is really hard and I haven't necessarily gotten better at it in my 30's. Yet this was right before I heard that three high schoolers had been shot in the Anacostia neighborhood of DC just the other day. Shortly after, I received a text from a high-school student in Yunnan, China whom I got to know over the summer, that her father was very ill and she might need to drop out of school - thus scrapping everything she and her family had worked for with her education. Though I might be struggling with adulthood, too many of our children all around the world are dealing with it far too early and having a much rougher go at it than I am - and that is just not fair.

Education Opinion First Day of School - Things to Remember as a TESOL Teacher

I don't talk anywhere near enough about how resilient, thoughtful, adventurous, passionate, pioneering, loving and just plain awesome our Teach For China teachers are. But that's what they are. It doesn't matter whether they're living off the side of a mountain or in a flooded factory town, or whether they get occasional electricity/water/internet or a lot, or even whether they're from America or China, the fact is, they've chosen to uproot their lives and love the kids we serve long before they have even met them. All that's left to say is, Happy First Day of School! And don't panic.

Lessons From China

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