In the beginning, I too was that starry-eyed, 22-year-old teacher who couldn鈥檛 stop talking about all the amazing projects, hands-on learning and after-school activities I was going to lead. I just couldn鈥檛 figure out why so many of my veteran colleagues on the Navajo Nation would listen, laugh and kindly give my brilliant ideas a smack down.
After two months of teaching, I got it.
The school wouldn鈥檛 give me more teaching time. I was told I had to follow the Scholastic reading workbooks verbatim. My students didn鈥檛 want to do after-school activities. Above all, I really sucked at teaching.
I was defeated and felt all my big ideas were impossible. I a lot.
But after awhile, I found proof that this was possible. I obsessed over , Schools and . I watched teachers at my school and across America relentlessly and creatively making the 鈥渋mpossible鈥� come true for their kids. I saw my own students relentlessly and creatively make their own 鈥渋mpossible鈥� situations a reality.
I鈥檝e believed in the 鈥渋mpossible鈥� ever since. But whenever I hear teachers lament how things are impossible to change, I still get it.
Especially when we鈥檙e in rural China, where we don鈥檛 have that well of 鈥減roof鈥� or super-star teacher proof points I had access to all those years ago, and when nearly everything seems 鈥渋mpossible鈥�... whether it鈥檚 because your students are in class from 7 am until 10 pm and there鈥檚 no 鈥渢ime鈥� for anything beyond the textbook, let alone after-school activities... or because you and your principal will lose your jobs if you don鈥檛 stick to the rote curriculum and drive the test scores up... or simply because there aren鈥檛 enough seats in the local high school this year and the likelihood of your students who are already 3 grade-levels behind to cut it is pretty bleak.
Nevertheless, it is possible. And we have proof for the times we don鈥檛 have belief or energy. (RCEF) does many beautiful things with local educators in rural China, but one of the most surprising are their they鈥檝e created of local teachers leading students in rural China in a variety of rigorous project-based learning activities.
One video showed how a teacher used the one-hour that her students had between evening classes and bed to improve their research, writing, science and critical thinking skills by centering a project around... . Another video illustrated how another school restructured their literature, math and science classes to develop stronger higher-order thinking skills through learning about . Most inspiring was that all of the videos were examples of how local teachers in rural communities in China were innovating within their contexts.
Last month, I watched RCEF present to our first- and second-year Teach For China teachers about how they led students in these higher-order thinking activities while navigating similar constraints. After the session, half a dozen teachers approached me admitting that it wasn鈥檛 until then that they saw how it could possible and therefore necessary to do. After all, this is why they joined Teach For China in the first place.
We might not have any Jaime Escalante-style super stars yet in rural China (that I know of), but at least we have access to proof beyond Teach For China that student-centered, project-based learning that foster critical thinking are indeed possible, even in our tricky contexts. Sometimes all you need is a little proof to keep the stars in your eyes.
Note: If you know of any Jaime Escalante-style super stars of rural China, please let us know. We鈥檙e constantly collecting and learning from awesome proof points beyond our own walls.