Shuangwang’s Blog

                                                China needs “The New Professional”

Shuang Wang

A new professional (is) a person who not only is competent in his or her discipline but also has the skill and the will to resist and help transform the institutional pathologies that threaten the profession’s highest standards.

                                                                                                                                     ——- Parker J. Palmer

On May 4^th, 1919, led by students of Peking University, citizens of Beijing started a movement to pretest Chinese government’s weak response to some terms about China in Treaty of Versailles after World War I. Although the government arrested many students, it finally refused to give up Shandong Province to Japan under the national pressure. It was the first student movement in Chinese history. It was also the first democratic victory in Chinese history. It became the milestone of Chinese democracy, and The Communist Party of China was born in this movement. This is the well known May 4^th Movement in the history of China.

90 years’ later, China has more universities, and more students are enjoying modern education, but somehow, the spirit of education seems gone. Although educators advocate that students be trained to think critically, students seem to be contented to mere memorization of facts and numbers. The ultimate goal seems to lie only on the scores and the career possibility after the education.  The lack of basic judgment and social responsibility worries the older generation who claimed that the spirit of May 4^th was long gone. 

Maybe it is high time to call for the education of “the new professional.” The function of education should shift its focus on knowledge transfer to the education of new professionals.  Students should be trained to understand that institutions (including government) do not “possess autonomous, even ultimate power over” their “lives”. They are more responsible for their growth in both intellect and emotion. Their ultimate goal of education is not to parrot the authorities but more important to ask questions. Their role to institution is not only to obey but also to quest. They should understand the perfection of the institution lies not on their unconditional subdue but on their ceaseless effort of amendment.

The education of new professional is the only new hope for Chinese education.  Although many people criticize the reformation of Chinese education, and claim it a great failure, very few understand why and even confused about where to go.  Parker Palmer’s book should be introduced to China. All teachers should read it and reflect on their own teaching. It is not deniable that the majority of the teachers are willing to teach well. This book will show them how.

I was gazing at the burning red maple intoxicated in the aesthetic unspeakable when suddenly a dry yellow oak leave darted directly towards me and shot me right on my right chest.  The unexpected “attack” disturbed me but at the same time amused me. I smiled and went, “ Hay, I know you. You were one of those that I gazed and amazed at two weeks ago.” Then I turned my eyes back to the maple and said” at that time, he was only an ugly duckling.”

This is probably the most important reason for most people to love the autumn, the progressive transformation. Some leaves change their colors at the very beginning of the season. Then more change happen. Even when the barks and twigs of some trees began to reveal, there are still more trees changing their colors to continue the beauty show. This successive and continuous progress never bores even the pickiest of the critic. Here lies the real beauty of autumn, and life.

What about people? Does God make people according to one same blueprint? Do people develop at the same pace intelligently? If we believe no two people are made exactly the same, why do we use one ruler to measure our students’ growth and one mode to shape their future? Why do we sacrifice our energy and resource to make sure that “no child left behind”?

Who are the kids left behind? How to define “left behind”? If a kid can solve a math problem that his peer can half a year ago, is he left behind? He may be just intellectually developed later, but which does not necessarily mean he is really behind. He is normal according to his own development speed. Is a kid who doesn’t do well with standardized test left behind?  Gardner told us, there might exist difference between people’s learning styles. The kid who is not good at answering paper questions may be good at kinesthetic activities or music. However those skills are not tested, so they are ignored.  Then he is labeled “behind.”

Is this simultaneity that important that all students should come up at the same level at the same time? If we expect the nature to work the same way, we would have all the showers in one week and spring is over; we would have all the flowers blossom over one night and wither at the same evening and summer is over; and we would have all leaves change at the same time and in the same color and winter starts. Then where would the beauty of life go?

I love Harry Potter stories. J.K. Rolling’s language is vivid and concise. I was always amazed at the novelity of her expression. She is no doubt a good story teller. The seven years’ of Harry’s advantures interwoven but independent. Each year, the story got more complecated although the settings, main characters and even the school year schedule remian unchanged. 

I love Harry Potter stories not only because the language I learned, and the fun I enjoyed, also because the life lessons I learned.

It’s your choice but your ability that determines who you are. This may not be the oringinal sentence, but good enough for the purpose. People sometimes complain about bad luck. Actually, it was the series of choices made by ourselves that made us who we are.

Love is not to be defeated. The powerful Evil Lord could do no harm to a helpless infant, because the power of love is even bigger. Love conqures evil, and some people even say “Love makes the world go around.”

Trust is the secret weapon to ensure success.  When Dumbledore died, Harry had to fight on his own against the Dark Lord. If he didn’t trust Dumbledore even though countless evidence showed up against him, if the students and professors at Hogwarts didn’t believe Harry was stilling fighting and he would make it, the stoging will have a discouraging ending.

In this e-portfolio, I collected the favorite of my summer writings. Although I can always come back to polish them, and there will be not final revision for any one of them, I am happy that finally I wrote something. The less formal writings were mostly from sacred writing or my personal journal.  The New Patio chairs was a personal journal, it was written when I felt the urge to write. I Don’t Get It was from Marathon writing at Huntington Museum of Art. I was angry so it’s emotional.  I Want to Change my Hair was a sacred writing piece. I love it because it was the very few occasions that I wrote without thinking. I was so free, and I miss the sense of freedom. A Reflection of SI experience was an exit slip. I include it because I believe that how I got transformed by SI.

The technology pieces were about my first digital story experience, my first PowerPoint experience, and my reflection of using technology in class. I think they are significant for my teaching career.

Plecostomus, the final personal piece and the deep revision piece are inspired by an algae eater that I have for my aquarium to keep the water clean. He looks so different from other fish and I grew more and more curious about him. When we needed to write a digital story, I instantly thought of him. I tried to think the way he did although I knew “when you are not fish, how do you know the fish is happy?(Old Chinese saying)” I took advantage of his speechless and talked for him. This was the first draft of the poem. When I got the chance to meet with Laura to revise my writing, I showed this to her. She was encouraging and helpful. She told me to sit in front of the tank and have a close look at the fish. She said readers wanted to see the picture and know the detail. She said it was good to repeat, but would be better to go beyond that at the end. According to her advice, I revised the original piece, and here is the final version of the piece.

Since I was emotional involved too much in this poem, I decided to write from my perspective about the fish. I took the deep revision piece to my writing group. My team members offered valuable advice. Beth even painstakingly proofread all misspellings and grammatical mistakes for me. So I decided to use it as my deep revision piece.

One Score for Everything was inspired by a prompt of sacred writing. The topic that day was to “write about one thing that you want to change about education”. I had a glimpse of Heather’s T-shirt. It said “Our children are better than a score.” Yes, that’s what I want to say. I have been educated for so many years and teaching for so many years. Didn’t I hate that one “score?” So when I went home, I wrote a reflection piece about education in China. I blogged it for comment and took it to my writing group for advice. Although it is not a very well thought writing, at least it provided some “out”signt for Chinese education.

I have been teaching Chinese for two years. I am sorry to say there are still so many questions that I am struggling for an answer.

In my Chinese class, I tried to teach as much as possible, thinking if I worked hard, students would learn more. After two years and two group of Chinese I students I finally realized that I couldn’t teach more than students could accept. Now that I know how much could accept, how should I teach more efficiently?

We worked on culture elements. We made postcards for Valentine’s Day, did Chinese calligraphy for mother’s day, did research on Chinese traditional festivals and celebrate them. After all these activities, students only remembered very limited vocabulary. What should I do to use culture to foster language learning?

 Another big headache was class management. I hate sending students to principals. I always believe it is the teacher who should be responsible for class disorder. I don’t mean students should be disciplined with an iron fist. I think teachers should teach in a way that students can be attracted to the class. Students should love the class and don’t have time to mess it up. What then should I do to solve this problem?

SI helped me to find answers to these questions. I listened to reflections on teaching experiences, observing Demos that each shed a new light on me, chatting with fellows, and asking questions. Little by little, I summed up something that I am going to do next year.

1. To communicate with administers, co-teachers, and councilors. Walk out of my shell and ask for help when I need. Seek cross-discipline cooperation, and break the wall of classroom to scaffold a bigger classroom for students to learn.
2. To integrate more culture into language. Both Hildegard and Jill told me that students will not remember language but they will remember culture. If culture will improve students’ involvement and whip interest, why bother language that much? When students know more about the country and like its culture, of course they will be motivated to study the language.
3. Language can be taught in a fun way. If J.D. can make math an easy subject to learn, and students enjoy it that much, why can’t I follow suit? Language should be more fun than math I am sure. I just need to have a good plan for that.
4. To teach language is not only about “follow me.” Hildegard,(Thank goodness you are here) taught me how to give lower level students writing assignment. Lorie’s poem idea is wonderful for students of limited language proficiency to write a poem. Beth’s quote blanket can be borrowed to display students’ handwriting or calligraphy. And more… I have a long list of dos for my next school year, and each was inspired by all of the fellows, especially from their Demos.

Armed with these, I feel more confident now. I am going to work on my teaching plan right after SI. If I have more questions, I will blog my fellows. I know they will always be there for me.

What are the top five lessons you will take back to your classroom or lifestyle after summer institute?

top 1: writing. I will make writng a habit. I will also make writing more instructional in my class.

top 2: blogging. I will keep blogging and use it in my classroom.

top3: sharing. To get feedback will benefit writing. Sharing is put yourself into a “emergency situation” as Natalie Goldberg put it, which will force you writing no matter what excuse you’ve got.

top4:teaching can be fun. Why do we need to make learning boring to emphasize its significance? Teachers and students should all enjoy the process.

top5: career development is presious. SI not only gives me an insight at writing but more important at teaching, which I think will benefit me lifelong.

I have a long writing history. I have to start the long story from long time ago.

I was a fifth grader and not a very smart kid at school. I read Bing Xin and other writers from textbooks and was enlightened by the dim, flickering light of the orange peel lump described in Bing Xin’s story. I decided to start a diary to keep a trace of my growing up and to show people to come how a wonderful kid I was.

As a kid, I had my own secret garden. I folded paper boxes and hid my treasures in them and then carefully put them into my unlocked drawer. I thought they were safe and nobody knew where they were. This diary was also kept here and since I was also clever enough to worry that one day it would be discovered by someone, I wrote my diary not for myself, but for my supposed readers.

The first diary as far as I can remember was neatly printed on the first light brown paned page of my light brown hard cover diary book. It was a story of helping a neighbor granny to dump trash. No detailed description, no explanation of reason, and that was how I wrote the story. It seems to me today, that to help the old was the only right thing to do and to write about. There were descriptions of my personal feelings. The last two sentences were, “I was so happy. What a meaningful day it was!”

This diary is the very first thing I can remember to teach me how to cover my true feelings. I t was the very first false piece which led to writing for moral’s sake and writing for politics’ sake. I was never taught to write for myself and about my true self. I dared not to write anything to reveal my true feelings. I was afraid that to reveal the ugly side of me was shameful.  It was not until I was about to lose the one I loved, that I began to write down about my sorrow, my memories and my missing him. That was the first time that I realized how languages could naturally flow out and how powerful the truth was.

I stopped free writing barely after this new discovery. And then went back to writing annual report, research paper and assignments. Then in order to improve my academic writing ability and learn how to teach writing, I came to SI.  I found my whole idea of writing was overturned. Writing is supposed to tell truth.  If all writings are like my first “Lei Feng Diary” and tell only false feelings, they will be nothing but literacy waste. If we do things for writings’ sake, life will become a rehearsal stage. If the way we keep our personal history is through merely recording our good deeds, we will stereotype ourselves. Therefore we should write to tell truth.  We do not only tell who we are by telling people our names. We also tell them what we did as kids, what we weaknesses are, what we like and what we detest. We are unique characters who have something that other people don’t.  We have a different combination of our parts from anybody else.

This summer is truly meaningful to me. Every time, when I listen to my fellows read their sacred writings, I was full of admiration. But I was always intimidated to show mine. I don’t know how to write.  I can tell the difference between their writings and mine. At the beginning I thought it was about grammar and vocabulary. Then I thought it might be culture. Now I realized something more important. I should write with an honest attitude. I should write to tell true stories and about true feelings.  Although I am not good at fancy vocabulary and flashing metaphor, I can write with simplicity and honesty.

07/01/2009

Once on a time, as old tales tell us

There was a SIdom

 Where the queen was Peggy by name 

 with Jennifer, Beth, Hildegard, and Ian as ministers

And  also on the cabinet, there were 10 councilors

They meet in summers

At Cobally Hall in Marshall

To discuss how to be good writers

 

The first day of the seventh month came along

With morning showers at the dawn

Queen Peggy announced commencement

And proceeded with a journal recommended

She said it was about a remote kingdom called Huntington

And a bunch of places for amusement

Then she commented the writings that meant to be sacred the previous day

And said Her Majesty’s intention was obviously misunderstood

“Today” she said, “you need to write another piece

Either about the books that inspired you

Or the untold story that you wanted to share”

 

All went silent and ran their pencils on the journals

 Until some chair noise got more and more noisy

Queen Peggy raised her eyes from her journal

As she inquired for the very first speaker

Shuang  the alien councilor

 cleared her voice

and asked a favor

“Can I record each of your speech with a recorder?

And listen back to it later?”

on alert were sent some councilor

“Do you want to use it against us?”

Cabinet is supposed to be closed for secrecy all after

“I only want to listen to it once again, in order not to miss any of your point, my dear councilor”

All nodded to consent  

Attentions were cast to the loud reader

 

Shuang’s writing started with a piece of Soccer

Although she still doesn’t understand if the mouths of the kids in this SIdom are bigger

She then concluded writing with honesty would be better

 

Anne the councilor, recalled her unsuccessful puppy’s lover

And how she adored the soft curls of the Allen boy

Who turned 16 in the year of 1986 and stayed 16 ever after

 

 Peggy wrote about a summer

And the connection developed between her and her father

On a boat purchased as a gift by her grandfather

 

Mandy reflected on the books she read and

Also songs that always made her feel better

 

Beth revealed a family hobby

 That they collected pets like homeless doggy

She then confessed how they got a white and a black puppy

And how they bring happiness to the family

 

Bethany story was bookie and lengthy

She developed her love of books from a babysitting magazine

Where “devoice” was first learned as an alien

 

Jill recalled how her friend Molly

Who exerted influence on her to reading

She said she had to read academically

But she hinted she would read more later for fun only

 

Hildegard had a house to reorganize

From one cabinet to another,  she sorted out things

But she still cannot toss the  two pairs of shoes that she saw at Macy out of her mind

 Mary Frances stared “You’ve got a Mail”

 The answer to a suspense that she subtly devised two weeks ago was finally revealed  

 The guy she dated when she was 14

 Didn’t come back to her life, as other councilors wished

Not because of the existence of the other 5 competitors

But because he never grew out of his own teens

 

Lorie related the book “Legend of the Thorn Bird”

To the experience of her child birth

There she got a deep sympathy from Jill

Who had touched the same theme

 

Jennifer had loved romance books

From Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing

She learned about first kiss

 She still loved romance books

Where she sought escape from the real world

 

J.D. the only male councilor

Read Where the Red Fern Grows

He confessed for the first time

That he cried when the two hounds died

 

Beth in the blue Tee

Loved children’s books

She read with rhymes and passion

Those of her favorite lines

 

Megan loved mystery books

She loved author Christy in particular

She also loved Harry Porter

No wonder she had those wildest dreams at 5 pm

 

Bethany, councilor of Performing Art Department

Wrote a play the day before

She dramatized everybody in the present

And order each to play his/her part

After doubt and gaggling

The play was officially put on

Bethany, the playwright and director

Offered to take the part of narrator

Everyone was happy at the end

Because nobody needed to play the bad guy

J.D. the male councilor

 Picked out an error

We was we and you was you

They should not be mistaken.

 

Queen Peggy was happy

 Things all went smoothly

She reminded those who didn’t write exit slips the previous day

That to reflect is an important step to write.

 

After 5 minutes recession,

All gathered again in a lab where computers displayed

A wide white screen hung in the front

Mandy the councilor did her Demo

Reflective writing was the topic

A blue folder with a cute name sticker

Everybody were taught Zumba as an content

Then reflections had to be written

All doubted, and shy at the beginning

Then engaged in the dancing

Jennifer tried cambering

And she was persuaded to learn dancing

In case of another chance she would get

To meet a hot guy at gas station

Time passed fast and the Demo was over

All were still reflecting at the Zumba dancing

 

 

Beth ordered pizzas from Papa Johns

She also made some desert with appealing look

Brownie bottom, creamy cover and some nuts on top

The name of the cake is “Better than sex”

Do you eat or do you laugh if you know the name in advance?

 

Laura the poet helped three councilors with their writing

Each returned with content

The afternoon commenced revising activates at writing group

Mary Frances shared a piece about her experience

It was Joepard that she went to

And big TV, VCR and Surrounding sound system she won home

 Beth thought it was too short

About what had happened

She wanted to know more

 

Ian the minister waited and waited

As a born gazer, he gazed at the watch

Once the long arm pointed to 12 and short to 2

He claimed his domain of the room

He pulled out a Power Point he just made

With a new software he found at prezi dot com

The zooming in and out of the animation

Drew a lot wows from the audience

How to use word format to blog

Was the next issue that Ian concerned

He also showed a clear way

To edit a content for E- Portfolio

“Go to E-anthology at NWP dot com”

He then ordered and put a piece for allies to revise

For the digital story

“You need to finish it the next day”

 

The daily routine was over

But no one left right away

Jennifer wheeled to Jill to ask about tattoo

Beth wheeled to Mary Frances for another reason

While people were so developed in their brain

Did other body parts correspondingly deteriorate?

Well, I guess now I should know the whole process of creating and editing a blog. I ‘d better remember what Ian had done to lead us in this, so that when I decided to use a blog in my Chinese class, I can just follow suit.

1. When we came back in May, Ian gave us a table of address book to keep our URL and Usernames and passwords. Later when I couldn’t remember my username to NWP website, I found it very predictable. Then he guided us step by step to set up our own accounts on wordpress.com.  He also led us our “Headquarters” website www.nwp.org , and showed us all the wonderful things about it. Then he introduced to us a convenient reading tool “Google Reader” so that we don’t have to log on and off all the time to check our posts and comments from friend fellows. In order for us to gather materials for our Demo research, he introduced another a neat tool “Google Alert”. I was thrilled to learn about all those.
2. Ian warmed us up with the first three chapters of the Strong book, so when we came back in June we were roughly prepared for what to expect and why.
3. In the days to come, we learned about how to post, how to comment, how to add links, how to add documents in word format, and today, how to create a table of contents.

 

Now that I have learned the basic things about the blogs, I think I am going to use it both for myself benefit and my students’. For myself, I can always post here about my teaching experiences, ask questions and read other fellows blog to update my knowledge. I can also keep it as my personal blog so that when I have wonderful personal experiences, I always have my friends here to share. I have to confess that for the years of my living, teaching, and studying here, I always feel isolated. That’s why I like SI. It’s like a family. In 4 days SI is going to be over. I expect it because I think I need to relax a little bit.  It’s also sad, because I am not going to have so many friends to get together to share our experiences and our emotions every day. Fortunately, we have our blogs. We can also communicate here.

For my students, I think it is a great idea to encourage them to blog their reflections or assignments. I will think about it and discuss this with my colleges. If I finally decide to do it, Ian had showed me how to do.

 

e-Portfolio makes our lives easier .  We can use it to organize our personal files or work files. Wherever we go, if only we have internet, and if only the service provider doesn’t go bankrupt, we can always have them available. For me who travel from one country to another, this will save me a lot of transportation trouble.

 e-Portfolio first of all is environment friendly. When we have students to blog everything online in their e-portfolio, we don’t have to ask them to print and copy their assignment and later on we have to toss them to make room for new students. They can be there forever. Whenever we need to refer to them, there are there. Whenever parents inquire about students’ academic performance, they are there.  Not only paper and ink are saved. Time is also saved.

All it needs is a good plan.

When summer came, the sitting room was finally warm enough for living creatures. We moved the corn plant over in front of the window and cleaned out the sofa for ourselves. Then we thought of pets, and J suggested  fish.

We went to Wal-mart. It’s so hard to decide who of the hundreds of fish to take home. We watched and discussed and finally decided to start with something not very picky about their environments. We then bought 6 golden fish. With the help of a lady who was also there to buy fish, we bought an aquarium and happily came home. We decided to settle the fish’s house on the shelf where we used to put a TV. It took an hour for J to set up the aquarium and then we put the fish inside. They looked happy with their new home and bubbled and chased each other. I gave them a little food and wished they could be with us forever.

The second day when I got home from work at noon, I saw two little ones vertical along the artificial palm with their mouths sticking into the gravel. “Are they sleeping?”  They were motionless. I took a nap. When I woke up, they remained the same position. A grey fish went over to nose them.  They didn’t move. I pated the tank gently and the two fish floated to the surface. I called J to report the death of the first two fish.

Then, one after another, the fish’s back fin disappeared and after a couple of days, they passed away. I thought I wouldn’t be able to face death, but I did so calmly now. Later on I learned that for 10 gallon tank, we cannot have more than 2 fish. When we indeed had two left, we decided not to invite more residents to this tank.

The water became cloudy the second day as a result of too many fish. We then decided to get an algae eater. We went to Wal-mart again. This time we met a guy who knew his business. We brought an algae eater home. The moment he got to his new home, he instantly hid behind the filter. That amused me. The second day, the tank was clear and I have never changed water ever since.

Probably because he looks big and tough, I rarely thought about him except for a few occasions when he acted really funny. He was nocturnal. He was scared to death at the sudden light up of the house, and swaged all his fins and tail to escape. He usually ends up behind the filter again. His clumsiness and desperateness always made me laugh.   Most of the times, he patiently hides himself behind the filter and comes down only when he feels nobody around.

The other fish sometimes swim close to him. They sometimes even tease him. He only sways his tail and waves the golden fish away or even remain motionless. I was so curious of him now. I find he knows everything. He was extremely sensitive. He knows more than I thought he did. Whenever people approach the tank, he would immediately move around to behind the filter. However, now that he was more and more familiar with me, he doesn’t hide that much if I am with them alone. He dares even to suck at the front glass, which he never did before. He is not that scared by lights anymore; he is comfortable. No chaos is made at the sudden light up. He is learning to fit into his environment.

This plecostomus makes me think a lot. When someone remains silent, we think he is ignorant. When people remain behind the spot light, we thought they are dumb. When people behave strangely, we thought they are funny. Actually, people and animals even fish alike, have their own nature. As teenagers, we seek to identity with everybody else, to fit in. We are used to wear uniform in order to have the sense of belonging. Actually, everybody, and everything does this. Then, when one day when one person is to be transported into another group of people, they stick out. It’s common for Muslim women to cover their hair in Middle East. But when they go to another country, they look different. It’s common for Korean people to eat garlic. When they move to another country, people don’t like their garlic smell.

 “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. No environment is so fatal that nothing can grow. No culture is so lethal that immigrants cannot survive. The lesson from this algae eater is that changing yourself for your new environment and contributing as much as you can.